A heartbroken husband has spoken about the devastating moment his world was turned upside down when his wife was tragically killed in a home invasion.
On Boxing Day 2022, Emma Lovell, 41, along with her husband Lee, spent the day baking and playing games with their daughters, Scarlett and Kassie. After enjoying a few cocktails, the family retired early for the night at their home in North Lakes, just north of Brisbane.
In the late hours, around 11:30 p.m., two teenagers, both 17 at the time, broke into their home. In the chaos that ensued, Emma was fatally stabbed in the heart.
In a horrifying scene, her husband of 22 years, Lee, was also stabbed while their daughters watched in terror.
The teen responsible for Emma’s death, now 19, had a lengthy criminal history with 84 prior offenses but had never been held in custody until that fateful night.
Lee Lovell has shared his harrowing experience of the attack, revealing that he was unaware of the severity of his wife’s injuries until their daughter pointed out that Emma was bleeding.
Lee Lovell (right) has opened up about life without his beloved wife Emma (left), who was stabbed to death on Boxing Day 2022
‘By the time I looked back at Emma, she was, like, just, like, passed out on the floor,’ he told A Current Affair on Monday night.
‘And when Kassie came back, she was like, ‘Mum’s bleeding’, I’m like, ‘what do you mean?’
‘She’s bleeding and looked at her left side and I know it was just, like, soaked with blood, you know, and then that, like, panic sets in.’
As he was rushed to hospital, other paramedics performed open heart surgery on his wife on their front lawn.
‘To be at the hospital and be told that she hadn’t survived was a major shock,’ he recalled.
‘I was like, ‘I want to see her’ and sort of jumped off the bed and trying to walk through to see her without falling over really.’
Mr Lovell described seeing his wife’s killer in court as bizarre.
‘I hadn’t really seen him before and you just expect him to look like a monster, but he’s not, he’s an average young adult,’ he said.
‘For a while, I couldn’t really take my eyes off him.’
Scarlett and Kassie (pictured with their parents)
Police officers are pictured at the scene of the crime on December 27, 2022, the day after Emma was killed
The teen was sentenced to 14 years behind bars with a non-parole period of almost 10 years in the Supreme Court in Brisbane last week.
It was one of the longest prison terms issued to a juvenile offender, but because he hadn’t yet turned 18, he could be a free man before his 30th birthday.
Had Ms Lovell been killed just four months later, her murderer would be facing life behind bars.
Mr Lovell was disappointed when his wife’s killer was sentenced to 14 years.
‘Then they start talking about only having to do 70 per cent … well, it’s not really 14 then is it?’ he said.
‘He isn’t 13 or 14 – he is 17 and four months away from being 18.
‘Another four months, and we wouldn’t even be talking about heinous crime or trying to push that over the line, we would have been talking straight up life sentence.’
The court heard that the teenager was a repeat burglar and car thief whose life of crimes started when he was 15.
Within two years, his lengthy rap sheet had grown to 84 offences.
Sixteen of the prior offences involved break-ins or attempted break-ins.
‘It’s pretty shocking to be honest, nothing was done sooner or picked up sooner,’ Mr Lovell said.
‘Time after time, crime after crime and all because we’ve got weak bail laws.
‘No one seems to want to lock anyone up anymore and innocent people are the ones to pick up the pieces.’
Lee Lovell feels that he and his daughters have been given a life sentence after his wife’s killer was jailed for a maximum 14 years
Emma and Lee were together for 22 years before her life was tragically cut short
Emma’s eldest daughter Scarlett is now 16, just a year younger than the two boys who broke into their home that night.
‘I guess it’s just the way everyone’s raised differently,’ she told Allison Langdon.
‘You know, my parents raised me to be nice, polite and don’t really go around breaking the rules.
‘Of course, every teenager’s going want to rebel at some kind of stage and go out drinking with their friends and, you know, but I know I didn’t expect it to go as far as people actually entering people’s houses.’
Mr Lovell is now on a mission to campaign for tougher sentences, more police patrols at night and better support for families impacted by crime.
Lee Lovell and his daughters Kassie (left) and Scarlett (right) were in court for last week’s sentencing
